The Calm Before the Storm
Percy and the others, driven there by Sally, reached the edge of the camp. From that point they could already hear the noise of the monsters surrounding the area, which made everyone grow more serious.
"Mom, drop us here. Ty, it's better if you head away from this place," Percy said quickly to his mother, his expression firm.
"Of course not. I'm not letting you go in there alone," Sally replied as she pulled a dagger from her pocket.
But Percy stopped her immediately.
"Please, Mom. You don't know how to use that. You'll only put yourself in danger," he told her.
"I wasn't asking, Percy," Sally answered in a firm tone.
"Mom," Percy said with the same seriousness. His green eyes locked with hers. "You know how much I train. All the time with the master. And I do it so I never have to see you in danger again. If something ever happened to you… I don't know what I'd do. Please, this time… just this once, listen to me, alright?"
Sally looked at him for several seconds.
She truly wanted to go with him. But she knew better than anyone that she was not like her son. Percy was a demigod trained by a god from another plane. Tyson was a Cyclops. Grover a satyr.
She was only a normal human.
And that hurt more than she wanted to admit.
Because whenever Percy faced danger, there was almost nothing she could do… even if she used the weapons Tyson had made for her.
She tightened her grip on the dagger.
"Alright, Percy. Just this once," she said at last, her voice softer.
Percy gave her a small smile.
"Don't worry. We'll be fine. The master is at the camp," he said with confidence.
Although once he said it out loud, the sentence did not sound quite as reassuring anymore.
And judging by Sally's expression, she seemed to think exactly the same thing.
"Well… forget the last part. At least trust the training he gave me," Percy added with a light smile.
Sally gently ran her hand through his hair.
"It still bothers me that you have those tattoos," she said quietly.
"I already told you they aren't tattoos. They're words of power. It's a way to avoid studying for decades just to pronounce one of them," Percy replied with a small grin.
He glanced inside his shirt for a moment.
Then his eyes widened in surprise.
"They're gone," he said.
"What?" Sally asked.
Percy lifted his shirt, revealing his completely clean abdomen. There was no mark at all, only the muscles he had gained from training.
"My tattoos… they're gone," he said with a genuinely tragic expression.
"Did you lose them, Percy?" Otto asked, who had remained silent until that moment.
"I don't think those are the kind of things you can lose," Percy replied immediately, although an uncomfortable doubt lingered in his mind.
"Alright, stop saying nonsense. We need to move," Annabeth said while peering through the trees toward Half-Blood Hill, which seemed wrapped in an increasingly heavy silence of war.
Percy nodded. He would think about that later.
He gave his mother one last look and hugged her before turning around and starting to run.
Even so, as he moved along the path, he could not stop glancing down at his abdomen from time to time, as if trying to understand why his tattoos had disappeared.
His master had never mentioned anything like that.
And he could still feel his throat rough from using the shouts on Polyphemus's island. The power of the thu'um was still inside him.
But this was not the moment to worry about something like that.
He moved quickly through the forest with the others.
A large number of massive vehicles came to a stop not far from the place where Sally had left.
Numerous demigods climbed out of them, along with several monsters, led by Luke, whose expression was cold and serious. He was fully armed. Alison walked beside him.
"Did you send that thing?" Luke asked suddenly.
"Yes, sir. We left it at the edge of the forest. With the barrier broken, the scent of the half-bloods drew it in immediately. It should already be attacking the camp," one of the demigods replied.
"For the barrier not to restore itself, Thalia's tree must be destroyed," Alison said at once.
At those words, Luke hesitated for a moment.
Then he took a slow breath and forced his emotions back under control.
Finally, he nodded.
"We will burn the camp from its foundations. And everyone inside it," he said coldly. "But Thalia must be revived. She is the most powerful demigod alive. And according to the prophecy, she will be the one to destroy Olympus. That is why Kronos will bring her back."
Alison stared at him for a moment.
Her jaw tightened.
"As you command," she said at last.
But her eyes seemed to say something very different.
"Move out," Luke ordered.
All of them, ready for war, began marching straight toward the camp.
…
Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson reached the camp at a full run. The moment they crossed the boundary, they noticed Bronte and the archers firing without pause into the sky, where several flying monsters were trying to approach.
Everyone's faces were marked with exhaustion, yet none of them stopped.
"What's going on? Wasn't your master protecting the camp?" Annabeth asked as she looked at the scene. The archers looked as if they had not slept for days. Dark circles hung under their eyes, and their clothes were covered in dust and sweat.
Percy watched the archers for a moment.
Something about the scene felt strangely familiar.
"Well… I think he is. In his own way," Percy said at last.
That made Grover and Annabeth look at him in confusion.
"What are you talking about? The monsters are still attacking," Annabeth said immediately.
"Look closer," Percy replied, pointing toward the archers.
After firing a dozen arrows, the archers would pause for only a moment. They pulled out small flasks that seemed to contain some kind of potion and drank them in a single gulp. Instantly they regained their energy and resumed shooting.
Meanwhile, several blacksmiths ran out from the camp carrying massive crates full of arrows. Many of them were still releasing smoke, a sign they had just been forged from steel. As soon as they dropped them off, they ran back again, no doubt to make more.
"That looks…" Tyson studied the scene with interest. "Like when Percy trains day and night without rest after annoying the master."
"What?" Grover and Annabeth said at the same time, looking back toward the camp.
Even though everyone looked exhausted, physically they still seemed able to keep standing without much trouble.
"Are you saying your master is training them or something?" Annabeth asked.
"No. That training mode is what happens when he punishes me," Percy replied with an amused smile. "So what I'm saying is that the master punished all the campers."
"Come on, let's hurry," he added, moving forward with a little more confidence.
But he had barely taken a few steps when several campers emerged from the trees and quickly surrounded them, heavy bows and spears ready to strike.
That made the four of them stop immediately and raise their hands.
"Hey, it's us," Percy said quickly.
But the campers' expressions did not change.
"Yes, we know, Jackson. We were waiting for you," one of them said, glaring at him with clear anger in his eyes.
None of them lowered their weapons.
And the atmosphere turned tense in an instant.